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Academy Award for Best Actor
}} The Academy Award for Best Actor is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given in honor of an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance in a leading role while working within the film industry. The 1st Academy Awards ceremony was held in 1929 with Emil Jannings receiving the award for his roles in The Last Command and The Way of All Flesh. Currently, nominees are determined by single transferable vote within the actors branch of AMPAS; winners are selected by a plurality vote from the entire eligible voting members of the Academy. In the first three years of the awards, actors were nominated as the best in their categories. At that time, all of their work during the qualifying period (as many as three films, in some cases) was listed after the award. However, during the 3rd ceremony held in 1930, only one of those films was cited in each winner's final award, even though each of the acting winners had two films following their names on the ballots. The following year, this unwieldy and confusing system was replaced by the current system in which an actor is nominated for a specific performance in a single film. Starting with the 9th ceremony held in 1937, the category was officially limited to five nominations per year. Since its inception, the award has been given to 79 actors. Daniel Day-Lewis has received the most awards in this category with three Oscars. Spencer Tracy and Laurence Olivier were nominated on nine occasions, more than any other actor. As of the 2017 ceremony, Casey Affleck is the most recent winner in this category for his role as Lee Chandler in Manchester by the Sea. Winners and nominees In the following table, the years are listed as per Academy convention, and generally correspond to the year of film release in Los Angeles County; the ceremonies are always held the following year. For the first five ceremonies, the eligibility period spanned twelve months from August 1 to July 31. For the 6th ceremony held in 1934, the eligibility period lasted from August 1, 1932 to December 31, 1933. Since the 7th ceremony held in 1935, the period of eligibility became the full previous calendar year from January 1 to December 31. (center) was the first winner in this category for his roles in 1928's The Last Command and 1927's The Way of All Flesh.]] won in 1928 for his performance in In Old Arizona.]] won in 1929 for his performance in Disraeli.]] won in 1930 for his performance in A Free Soul.]] (pictured) and Fredric March tied in 1932 for their performances in The Champ and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, respectively.]] won in 1934 for his performance in It Happened One Night.]] was the first actor to win this category two consecutive years, having won in both 1937 and 1938 for his roles in Captains Courageous and Boys Town including seven other nominations.]] won in 1944 for his performance in Going My Way.|alt=Black and white photo of Bing Crosby in 1942.]] was named Best Actor in 1946 for The Best Years of Our Lives, having previously jointly won the award in 1932 with Wallace Beery, for his performance in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.]] won in 1948 for his role as the title character in Hamlet, a film which he himself directed. |alt=Photo of Laurence Olivier in 1973.]] won twice from seven nominations for his roles in 1954's On the Waterfront and 1972's The Godfather.|alt=Black and white photo of Marlon Brando in the film, A Streetcar Named Desire in 1948.]] won in 1962 for his performance in To Kill a Mockingbird.|alt=Black and white publicity photo of Gregory Peck in 1948.]] won in 1963 for his performance in Lilies of the Field, thus becoming the first black actor to win in this category. |alt=Black and white photo of Sidney Poitier in 1963.]] won twice from eight nominations for his performances in 1975's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and 1997's As Good as It Gets.|alt=Photo of Jack Nicholson attending the German premiere for the film, The Bucket List in 2008.]] won twice from seven nominations for his performances in Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) and Rain Man (1988).|alt=Photo of Dustin Hoffman attending the French premiere of his film, Quartet in 2013.]] won once from five nominations for his role as Jake LaMotta in 1980's Raging Bull.|alt=Photo of Robert De Niro at the 43rd Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in 2008.]] won for his portrayal of the title role in Gandhi (1982).|alt= Photo of Ben Kingsley at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival.]] won in 1987 for his performance in Wall Street.|alt=Photo of Michael Douglas at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival.]] is the first actor to win this award three times, in 1989, 2007, and 2012, for his performances in My Left Foot, There Will Be Blood and Lincoln respectively.]] won for his portrayal of Claus von Bülow in 1990's Reversal of Fortune.]] won once from three nominations for his role as Dr. Hannibal Lecter in 1991's The Silence of the Lambs.|alt=Photo of Sir Anthony Hopkins at the 2009 Tuscan Sun Festival in Cortona, Italy.]] won once from five nominations for his performance in 1992's Scent of a Woman.|alt=Photo of Al Pacino attending the Venice Film Festival in 2004.]] won two consecutive awards in 1993 and 1994 for his roles in Philadelphia and Forrest Gump including three other nominations.]] , Roberto Benigni became the second actor to win for a role in a film he directed himself.|alt=Photo of Roberto Benigni in 2006.]] won once from three consecutive nominations for playing Maximus Decimus Meridius in Gladiator (2000).|alt=Photo of Crowe at the London film premiere for State of Play, 21 April 2009.]] won once from five nominations for his role in 2001's ''Training Day.|alt=Photo of Denzel Washington after a performance of Julius Caesar in May 2005.]] became the youngest winner for Best Actor for his performance in 2002's The Pianist.|alt=Photo of Adrien Brody attending the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.]] won twice from five nominations for his roles in 2003's Mystic River and 2008's Milk.|alt=Photo of Sean Penn attending the 81st Academy Awards in 2009.]] won for Capote (2005).|alt=Photo of Hoffman at Cannes in 2002 promoting Punch-Drunk Love]] won for his performance as Idi Amin in the 2006 film, The Last King of Scotland.|alt=Photo of Forest Whitakerat the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.]] won once from three nominations, two being consecutive, for his performance in 2009's Crazy Heart.|alt=Photo of Jeff Bridges attending the 2013 San-Diego Comic Con International.]] won once from two consecutive nominations for his portrayal of King George VI in 2010's The King's Speech.|alt=Photo of Colin Firth at the San Diego Comic-Con International in 2014.]] became the first French actor to win this award for his performance in the 2011 film The Artist. ]] won in 2013 for his performance as Ron Woodroof in Dallas Buyers Club.|alt=Photo of Matthew McConaughey at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival premiere.]] won in 2014 for his role as Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything, and was nominated the next year for his performance as Lili Elbe in The Danish Girl.|alt=Photo of Eddie Redmayne in 2014.]] was nominated for The Aviator, Blood Diamond, and The Wolf of Wall Street, before winning in 2016 for his portrayal of Hugh Glass in The Revenant.|alt=Leonardo DiCaprio]] won in 2017 for his performance in Manchester by the Sea.]] Multiple nominations ;9 nominations * Laurence Olivier (9/1) * Spencer Tracy (9/2) ;8 nominations * Paul Newman (8/1) * Jack Nicholson (8/2) * Peter O'Toole (8/0) ;7 nominations * Marlon Brando (7/2) * Dustin Hoffman (7/2) * Jack Lemmon (7/1) ;6 nominations * Richard Burton (6/0) ;5 nominations * Gary Cooper (5/2) * Daniel Day-Lewis (5/3) * Robert De Niro (5/1) * Tom Hanks (5/2) * Fredric March (5/2) * Paul Muni (5/1) * Al Pacino (5/1) * Gregory Peck (5/1) * Sean Penn (5/2) * James Stewart (5/1) * Denzel Washington (5/1) ;4 nominations * Warren Beatty (4/0) * Charles Boyer (4/0) * Michael Caine (4/0) * Leonardo DiCaprio (4/1) * Albert Finney (4/0) * Burt Lancaster (4/1) ;3 nominations * Humphrey Bogart (3/1) * Jeff Bridges (3/1) * James Cagney (3/1) * Montgomery Clift (3/0) * George Clooney (3/0) * Ronald Colman (3/1) * Bing Crosby (3/1) * Russell Crowe (3/1) * Johnny Depp (3/0) * Kirk Douglas (3/0) * Robert Duvall (3/1) * Morgan Freeman (3/0) * Clark Gable (3/1) * William Holden (3/1) * Anthony Hopkins (3/1) * William Hurt (3/1) * Charles Laughton (3/1) * Marcello Mastroianni (3/0) * William Powell (3/0) * Jon Voight (3/1) * Robin Williams (3/0) ;2 nominations * Alan Arkin (2/0) * George Arliss (2/1) * Javier Bardem (2/0) * Wallace Beery (2/1) * Nicolas Cage (2/1) * Bradley Cooper (2/0) * Tom Cruise (2/0) * Matt Damon (2/0) * James Dean (2/0) * Robert Donat (2/1) * Richard Dreyfuss (2/1) * Clint Eastwood (2/0) * José Ferrer (2/1) * Peter Finch (2/1) * Colin Firth (2/1) * Henry Fonda (2/1) * Ryan Gosling (2/0) * Cary Grant (2/0) * Alec Guinness (2/1) * Gene Hackman (2/1) * Richard Harris (2/0) * Rex Harrison (2/1) * Leslie Howard (2/0) * Walter Huston (2/0) * Ben Kingsley (2/1) * Walter Matthau (2/0) * Robert Montgomery (2/0) * Viggo Mortensen (2/0) * Nick Nolte (2/0) * Joaquin Phoenix (2/0) * Walter Pidgeon (2/0) * Brad Pitt (2/0) * Sidney Poitier (2/1) * Anthony Quinn (2/0) * Eddie Redmayne (2/1) * Mickey Rooney (2/0) * Geoffrey Rush (2/1) * Maximilian Schell (2/1) * George C. Scott (2/1) * Peter Sellers (2/0) * Will Smith (2/0) * Rod Steiger (2/1) * John Travolta (2/0) * John Wayne (2/1) Multiple wins The following individuals received two or more Best Actor awards: Age superlatives See also * All Academy Award acting nominees * Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Actor * Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead * BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role * Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama * Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy * Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role Notes :A' : According to longstanding Hollywood legend, reported by Susan Orlean, Rin Tin Tin actually received the most Best Actor votes, but the Academy (not wishing to give the first award to a dog) refactored the votes to ensure that Jannings won. :'B : Rules at the time of the first three ceremonies allowed for a performer to receive a single nomination which could honor their work in more than one film. George Arliss, Maurice Chevalier, and Ronald Colman were all nominated for two different roles in the same category. Current Academy rules forbid this from happening. No official reason was ever given as to why Arliss won the award for only one of the two films he was listed for. :C' : Fredric March received one more vote than Wallace Beery. Academy rules at that time considered such a close margin to be a tie, so both March and Beery received the award. Under current Academy rules, however, dual awards are given only for exact ties. :'D : Paul Muni's performance in Black Fury was not nominated for an Oscar. For two years only, the Academy allowed a write-in vote. Technically, this meant that any performance was eligible for the award. The decision was made the previous year in response to the controversy surrounding Bette Davis's failure to receive a nomination for Of Human Bondage. Muni came 2nd in the vote, however, the Academy does not recognise Davis or Muni as nominees in these years. References Bibliography * * * * * * External links * Oscars.org (official Academy site) * The Academy Awards Database (official site) * Oscar.com (official ceremony promotional site) * Complete Downloadable List of Academy Award Nominees Category:Academy Awards Category:Best Actor Academy Award winners Category:Film awards for lead actor